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1841
Gottfried Semper's first opera house opened in 1841
The first opera house on the site was built by Gottfried Semper. It opened on 13 April 1841 with an opera by Carl Maria von Weber. It was regarded as one of the most beautiful European opera houses.
Fire
After the 1869 fire the citizens demanded Semper rebuild it
After a devastating fire in 1869 the citizens immediately set about rebuilding. They demanded that Gottfried Semper do the work, even though he was in exile because of his involvement in the May 1849 uprising in Dresden. Semper's son Manfred built the second opera house using his plans, completed in 1878.
Premieres
Wagner and Strauss premieres were staged here
The opera house has a long history of premieres, including major works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. On top of the portal there is a Panther quadriga with a statue of Dionysos, and monuments on the portal depict Goethe, Schiller, Shakespeare, Sophocles, Molière and Euripides.
1985
It reopened exactly forty years after the bombing, with the same opera
In 1945 the building was largely destroyed by the bombing of Dresden and the firestorm that followed, leaving only the exterior shell standing. Exactly 40 years later, on 13 February 1985, its reconstruction was completed. It reopened with the opera performed just before its destruction, Weber's Der Freischütz.
The flood
The 2002 Elbe flood flooded it again, and it reopened that December
When the Elbe flooded in 2002, the building suffered heavy water damage. With substantial help from around the world, it reopened in December of that year.
Day 1, afternoon
It comes after Zwinger. Then Brühl's Terrace.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Semperoper, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.